Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage • Hacker News Board

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#181

Post by JohnWhigham » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

belorn wrote: post #145

keyb0ardninja wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No pseudo-science is required when you've real solid science: https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/research/ https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ru3RQbsaYfM

There is better unbiased sources for science, and the best is simply the medical definition in DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) or ICD-11 (eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases). There is no addiction or compulsion unless the person is experiencing direct negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, or financial well-being. I.E, no pr…

Why do so many people like you crop up in any porn-related thread? You instantly assume anyone questioning the accessibility of pornography are on a religious tirade to abolish it and send us back to the days of the Puritans. Just because there's not some peer-reviewed studies saying "porn bad" doesn't mean it hasn't had negative effects on society.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#182

Post by euthymiclabs » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 4:12 PM UTC

1_over_n wrote: post #168

euthymiclabs wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Psychiatrist here. This is true, and most people find recovery eventually without a formal program. Working with a doctor can make it much less comfortable in many cases--and in the case of opioids, can offer several options that can be lifesaving by preventing return to use and overdose.

"This is terribly wrong information, to the point of causing more harm to people who take it seriously." ^ this is generally correct for many of the classes of substances mentioned; however, it is also terribly wrong information concerning Opiate withdrawal. I'm not sure in terms of case numbers - people can and do die from Opiate withdrawal due to vomiting and diarrhea leading to dehydration and/or heart failure due…

Correct, dehydration-related complications are possible during opioid withdrawal, and I agree that it's hard to put a number on cases. The other significant risk is suicidality, which is very common during opioid withdrawal. In general, I tend not to recommend full, rapid, medically-supervised (or unsupervised) withdrawal from opioids, as the best option for most people is a transition to opioid agonist therapy with buprenorphine or methadone--which have profound mortality benefits. There are always exceptions--especially in people who prefer antagonist therapy with long-acting injectable naltrexone--but agonist therapy has the most data.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#183

Post by edgyquant » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 4:47 PM UTC

lolc wrote: post #158

edgyquant wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do but there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything in life is an economic transaction if it involves more than one person. The other poster is just being pedantic and a bit mean.

The therapists (and the app) are supposed to capitalize on improvement. Saying that they capitalize on pain takes a dystopic perspective that I find unjustified. Until they are shown to employ dark patterns, we shouldn't dismiss them like that.

That’s fair but I think the difference is arbitrary. They exist because people are in pain or suffering so their market is people who are suffering. Again I do not think it’s a bad thing that people capitalize on their suffering as long as they are providing a (mutually) beneficial service.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#184

Post by DeusExMachina » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

_game_of_life wrote: post #144

DeusExMachina wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pervasive sexually explicit imagery definitely didn't.

I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes. Also a mural I got from Kanamara Matsuri (Japanese penis festival) last year. Pervasive sexually explicit (by today's standards) imagery most definitely has existed to varying degrees throughout antiquity. I like the idea of an app to help porn addiction though. People can become addicted to anything, and another tool…

> I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes.

a) Those are not pervasive at all. Pottery and statues are expensive and slow to produce and are found only in specific places.

b) Those are all low-level representations with a totally different purpose. A fertility statue is not comparable to a constant stream of young girls in bikini on Instagram.

"Fertility statue addiction" has never been a thing.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#185

Post by _game_of_life » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 7:26 PM UTC

DeusExMachina wrote: post #184

_game_of_life wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes. Also a mural I got from Kanamara Matsuri (Japanese penis festival) last year. Pervasive sexually explicit (by today's standards) imagery most definitely has existed to varying degrees throughout antiquity. I like the idea of an app to help porn addiction though. People can become addicted to anything, and another tool…

> I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes. a) Those are not pervasive at all. Pottery and statues are expensive and slow to produce and are found only in specific places. b) Those are all low-level representations with a totally different purpose. A fertility statue is not comparable to a constant stream of young girls in bikini on Instagram. "Fertility statu…

> "Fertility statue addiction" has never been a thing

I have a room full of phallic statues from various tribes that proves this wrong.

Also I don't know how familiar you are with fertility statues, but a lot of them actually function as dildos too. And you can DEFINITELY get addicted to those!

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#186

Post by read_if_gay_ » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

Mindwipe wrote: post #179

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articl... > 56 neuroscience-based studies [...] All but one provide support for the addiction model as their findings mirror the neurological findings reported in substance addiction studies. > Over 60 studies reporting findings consistent with escalation of porn use (tolerance), habituation to porn, and even withdrawal symptoms > over 40 studies linking porn use/…

Your Brain On Porn is a quack site run by religious fundamentalists.

You are going to need an actual argument if you want to invalidate all of that research.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#187

Post by throwawayswede » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

csande17 wrote: post #146

dang wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't be posting mean and snarky one-liners to HN, let alone shallow dismissals of someone's work. All that is against the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . Even so I have some sympathy with the point behind your point and it makes me want to write something. It's true that our society has commodified and mechanized a lot of what used to be, and arguably should still be, huma…

Sure, all of humanity is inherently tainted by profit motives or whatever. That doesn't change the fact that trusting a Y Combinator startup with this kind of sensitive private medical information is a uniquely terrible idea. That information is going to leak, whether intentionally (maybe they'll "pivot" to selling it) or unintentionally via security issues like poor internal access control. Doctors also earn money,…

That was my point, I don't know why everyone got what I said as anti capitalist rant.

The only reason I would trust a therapist with my personal life details is because of doctor patient confidentiality and there's absolutely no digital record of our conversation.

I think trusting any app or online service with such details is absolutely wrong with zero room for budging, and arguing that "well, maybe this company is okay" is naive to say the least.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#188

Post by goto11 » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

DeusExMachina wrote: post #184

_game_of_life wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes. Also a mural I got from Kanamara Matsuri (Japanese penis festival) last year. Pervasive sexually explicit (by today's standards) imagery most definitely has existed to varying degrees throughout antiquity. I like the idea of an app to help porn addiction though. People can become addicted to anything, and another tool…

> I have some ancient greek pottery that would VIGOROUSLY disagree with you. Also fertility statutes. a) Those are not pervasive at all. Pottery and statues are expensive and slow to produce and are found only in specific places. b) Those are all low-level representations with a totally different purpose. A fertility statue is not comparable to a constant stream of young girls in bikini on Instagram. "Fertility statu…

> "Fertility statue addiction" has never been a thing.

How do you know? I'm not asking rhetorically, I'm genuinely curious how you know this. We do have ancient myths about people falling in love with statues.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#189

Post by GekkePrutser » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 12:15 AM UTC

ge96 wrote: post #123

rockbruno wrote: post #20

I know this isn't your fault, but I dislike society's tendency of trying to band-aid things instead of solving the actual issue. People wouldn't be addicted to sex if the media wasn't shoving it down your throat 24/7. If I open Netflix now, I guarantee at least half of the recommended shows are about sexual relationships, if not porn/sex worker stories explicitly. You can't get away from it.

This is a sci fi thing (literally black mirror) but one day when we have AR contacts, I would like to see what life would be like if I replaced women to look plain to me, like how I would be disinterested in men personally. Then I can live my life not being distracted, like in a work place, they'd just be another person I work with, no urges. I know I'm a creep for thinking that way. The other part of me that thinks…

Why would it be bad if you fancy a coworker? It happens.. As long as your don't do anything nonconsensual it's fine. Attraction is a normal thing. It's society that tries to make us feel weird about it.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#190

Post by GekkePrutser » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 12:22 AM UTC

brk wrote: post #33

rockbruno wrote: post #20

I know this isn't your fault, but I dislike society's tendency of trying to band-aid things instead of solving the actual issue. People wouldn't be addicted to sex if the media wasn't shoving it down your throat 24/7. If I open Netflix now, I guarantee at least half of the recommended shows are about sexual relationships, if not porn/sex worker stories explicitly. You can't get away from it.

I disagree. I personally think it would be less of an issue if it wasn't treated as such a taboo topic. Particularly in America, many people get far too worked up (IMO) about basic issues of sexuality or displays of anything mildly erotic in mainstream media. Also, FWIW, I do not see any of these Netflix show recommendations with significant sexual undertones. Then again, we also do not watch any of the fake reality…

As a European this also amazes me. Sexuality is frowned upon and people are made to feel bad about themselves for normal human behaviour (yet at the same time most porn is produced in the US). The only European country close to this level of sexual strictness is the UK (and Ireland)

Then on the other hand, glorifying violence is no problem whatsoever. To the extreme situation we have now where showing a nipple is pure evil but shooting someone in the face is badass. I just don't get this.

Not that I care very much, Americans are free to arrange their society as they see fit. But the problem is that American morals tend to spread a lot due to cultural sharing, like movies.